In 2005, fed up with the tangle of bureaucratic red tape he said was stifling creativity in Downtown development, Oliver Kuttner vowed he was done with building in Charlottesville. The man who has a historic connection to nearly every large Downtown Mall-area project from The Terraces to City Walk to the Landmark Hotel packed up his money and headed south to Lynchburg, where he set to work buying and renovating empty warehouses while simultaneously founding Edison2, a company that developed a 100 mpg vehicle and won $5 million in 2010 in the Progressive Automotive X Prize competition.

Time has a way of soothing old frustrations, apparently, and earlier this year, 52-year-old Kuttner did what he swore he’d never do again: He started a new project in Charlottesville, this time at a property he already owns, the Glass Building on the corner of Second and Garrett streets. The three-story addition on the building’s southwest corner isn’t huge—just 10,000 square feet that will eventually house retail and commercial space on the first two floors and three small apartments on the top—but as anyone who knows Kuttner might expect, he has a bigger vision for the rest of the site that he believes will help with Charlottesville’s lack of affordable housing, and his attitude about development hasn’t changed.

“If you keep making it more and more complicated to develop, you will lose the creative part,” said Kuttner, recalling his first local project, the old Skatetown building at 1117 E. Market St., which he purchased in 1984 when he was 23 for $240,000 after the building’s former owner agreed to finance the sale to the budding entrepreneur.

Renovating a building back then was a simple process, Kuttner said, and involved filling out minimal paperwork with the city and then doing the work to convert what had been a large open space that housed a roller skating rink into several separate commercial units. He estimates the pre-construction costs, including his time, to have been around $500.

“Today, to do the same thing could cost $70,000 to $80,000,” he said, citing zoning issues, obtaining building permits, the stringent standards of the Charlottesville Board of Architectural Review, and the carrying costs associated with owning an empty property while waiting for final construction approval.

He recalls the frustration of working on The Terraces between 1999 and 2002 when stop work orders piled high, and at the Downtown Tire Center building, current site of the new Waterhouse, where he notably overcame a BAR requirement that he preserve the old garage doors by constructing walls around them.

Financial burdens created by the lengthy bureaucratic process, he said, are closing the doors to entrepreneurs and creating an environment in which only large corporations and the very rich can enter the development game. That dynamic can lead to cookie cutter designs, he warned. But in a seeming contradiction, he said Charlottesville has been fortunate to avoid much of that type of unimaginative construction thanks to the very organization that’s given him headaches.

“The BAR is my nemesis, but I like them,” said Kuttner, explaining that he doesn’t object to restrictions on construction in any form, but only the multiple layers of bureaucracy that slow projects down and make developing too expensive.

“I give them 100 percent credit that we don’t have a Mall full of McDonald’s,” he said of the board.

Fortunately for Kuttner, he has one less hoop to jump through for his current construction at the Glass Building. It doesn’t fall under BAR control, since the property is outside the historic district, south of the railroad tracks, tucked between the Water Street Parking Garage and Garrett Square. Kuttner and a partner, Lisa Murphy, bought and renovated the project 15 years ago even as some questioned the investment because of its proximity to public housing.

“The Glass Building started everything on the other side of the tracks,” said Kuttner, citing the subsequent development of the nearby Gleason’s Building and ACAC health club’s decision to build it’s Downtown location across the street from the western side of Friendship Court, the low-income housing development previously known as Garrett Square.

“We dispelled the myth that if you’re next to Garrett Square, you have problems,” he said. “You don’t.”

That’s why Kuttner’s confident that after completing the current addition to the Glass Building, his next vision for Downtown Charlottesville will have broad appeal even if, in typical Kuttner fashion, it already features outside-the-box ideas: 80 affordable apartments and 20 affordable condos, all under 600 square feet, on the parking lot next to the Glass Building.

The idea of $1,000-a-month apartments and condos priced at $200,000 raises questions for one real estate expert and business owner who acknowledges high demand for Downtown housing but questions the reality of constructing affordable housing one block from the Mall—and somehow keeping the value from rising.

“I’m not sure why the premier location Downtown should be affordable,” said Roger Voisinet, a real estate agent and co-owner of the Main Street Arena. ”That’s contrary to all the indices of real estate. It’s more of a wish.”

Kuttner, however, believes increasing the housing supply just off the Mall would lower Downtown housing costs across the board, and while that might not sound like good news to other developers—or to Downtown property owners hoping to maximize money made on their own investments, Kuttner’s concerned less with profit margins than with quality of life in the community and his own legacy, which rests on having big ideas and then making them happen.

“I can do very little and sit on the money I have, or I’m going to change the world,” he said. “I think it’s going to be the latter.”

He’s back, all right.

The Oliver touch

Oliver Kuttner’s played a role in numerous developments around Downtown Charlottesville, including some you might not know about…

The Landmark Hotel (1), 201 E. Water St. Kuttner bought the property from developer Lee Danielson in 2006 and announced plans to construct a nine-story building that would be either a hotel or affordable housing. A year later, frustrated by city bureaucracy and the high carrying costs associated with owning the vacant structure, Kuttner sold it back to Danielson, whose ill-fated partnership with CNet founder Halsey Minor fell apart amid Minor’s numerous financial woes. It was sold at bankruptcy auction in June, 2012 to Atlanta businessman John Dewberry and remains unfinished.

The Glass Building, 313 Second St. SE. Kuttner partnered with Lisa Murphy in the early 2000s to develop the Glass Building, home to The Bluegrass Grill, the now defunct Glass Haus Kitchen, and a variety of small businesses. Kuttner is currently adding a three-story addition to the building’s southwest corner and envisions residential units on an adjacent parking lot.

Waterhouse, 216-218 Water St. Kuttner purchased the former Downtown Tire Center property in 1994, renovated the building and bolstered the foundation to prepare for construction of a large structure. He sold to architect Bill Atwood, who was able to woo WorldStrides educational travel company to relocate its headquarters from the county to the city. The upper levels are high-end condos that are still mostly unoccupied.

The Terraces (2), 100-106 Main St. Kuttner designed and built this massive Downtown building, owned partially by his family. It houses a variety of upscale retail stores on the ground level and offices and apartments on upper floors.

Old Skatetown building (3), 1117 E. Market St. Kuttner still owns the first building he ever developed, a former roller skating rink that houses a variety of light industries.

Old National Linen building (4), 1304 E. Market St. Kuttner purchased the large warehouse building that formerly housed the National Linen Company in 1996. He still owns the property, now home to the Woolly Mammoth restaurant and a variety of light industrial businesses.

Ix (5): Kuttner was one of several developers including the late Gabe Silverman who worked on the Ix project, the sprawling property between Monticello and Elliott avenues. Kuttner’s father, Ludwig, and brother Fabian, are now developing the site.

The Coal Tower (6): The old Coal Tower along the CSX railroad tracks is now part of the City Walk development and a row of townhomes along an extension of Water Street. Kuttner owned the property for five years between 1998 and 2003 and sold it to Coran Capshaw.

After a nearly 10-year hiatus from local development, Oliver Kuttner is doing an addition at the Glass Building and has a vision for affordable housing Downtown. Photo: Elli Williams

“We dispelled the myth that if you’re next to Garrett Square, you have problems,” Kuttner said. “You don’t.”

“The BAR is my nemesis, but I like them” says a guy who has no choice if he wants the BAR to approve his future projects.

The BAR shouldn’t even exist.

g young

Thanks Mr/s “Rand” for taking a “Stand”. Your comment shows as little understanding as it does pigheadedry. A “Landmark” statement, in fact.

If you don’t understand why you need a protagonist/antagonist, to pretend to be anything at all, then perhaps just go about your own business.

datcv

Yes truly it would be a libertarian anarchy if we went back to the 1980’s where someone could get a building built without spending $70,000 to get it approved. It’s no wonder buildings cost so much more now than they use to. The little bureaucratic meddlers like yourself must really hate poor people — because that’s who you’re screwing over the most — anyone who doesn’t have a lot of money to buy or build a home or start a business, and can’t afford to redesign their building several times to appease the taste of a bunch of busybodies.

The hilarious thing about your little landmark quip, is that it is probably the BAR’s fault that the building is standing abandoned right now. If they hadn’t created such a lengthy approval process, that hotel would most likely be finished and operating, and generating tax revenue for the city.

You sound like a really tedious person.

g young

Typical of “Rand’s” own. They blame all and sundry for their own failings, but seem to need others to forever attempt to hold accountable (for their own errors) at the same time. Thanks for giving us a display of that faulty mindset – and nothing else.

I’ve no bureaucratic affiliation. Speaking on behalf of common sense.

I’ll leave the personal insults to you (and your gang.) Fairly obvious where the tedium circulates. 70 years of the same (lack of) arguments. With no one counting, while claiming – of all things – to speak for the “Individual”.

g young

Now back to the real discussion and the question begged which is why this glass elephant (or milk cow) is being billed as an industry “leader” along with its absentee handler.

As far from a white knight as could possibly be imagined. Only by means of a quasi news story and as flimsy fabrication which rather imperfectly mirrors the building’s renovation “itself”.

g young

You should perhaps thank me for not responding with the entire history of the Omni.

Guest

Now back to the real discussion and the question begged which is why this glass elephant (or milk cow) is being billed as an industry “leader” along with its absentee handler.

g young

He must really have gone unnoticed in Europe. Perhaps he’ll go finish at least one project in Lynchburg too? Maybe not enough of a scene down there for him and his entourage.

Thanks, but not really necessary – especially from the “knock ’em up” squad that is Mr K’s way of doing things. Ideas without substance.

g young

If anyone takes that as an idle remark, let me draw your attention to perhaps one of the shoddiest maintained structures in the downtown area – that was shammed together so as to cause (particularly the rear tenants) outrageous utility bills (of thousands a month) while Ms Murphy just enjoys collecting the checks.

It leaks, it’s unsound climatically, but Mr Kuttner just sees the only stamp on the map that can be spun as a vanity project – to project first and foremost his own image rather than actually DOING what he is only best at TALKING about.

Get real, before it’s too late. You’re getting too old for empty statements.

The above article reads like a schoolyard rag trying to suck up for votes. What’s at stake?

Nothing.

Blair Hawkins

Cville Weekly Still Suppressing Local History
(1) “The Glass Building started everything on the other side of the tracks,” said [Oliver] Kuttner…” — You have to read between the lines. So this was the first non-public housing built in the Garrett Street Urban Renewal Area? That’s the old name. New names are Strategic Investment Area, Warehouse District, Downtown Extended, “the area south of the railroad tracks” in City Council resolutions. About a decade ago Cville Weekly called it South Downtown in a cover story “The South shall rise”. Why wasn’t it called “The South shall rise AGAIN”? The reporter talked about Court Square in north downtown, but no history whatsoever about South Downtown. I wrote a letter that was printed which outlined the missing history. So why is Cville Weekly still so hostile to local history? And Ivy Industries was the first private development in the Garrett Square urban renewal zone.
(2) “I’m not sure why the premier location Downtown should be affordable,” said Roger Voisinet, a real estate agent and co-owner of the Main Street Arena.” — Because that’s what it was pre-Urban Renewal. Lower and middle income folks were investing here with many new houses. Is that why Courtney Stuart and Mayor Huja are suppressing this history? So nobody will know the historical reason for the dead zone or opportunity desert? How much more time must pass before we can mention the history of what we’re talking about? It’s not a conspiracy; it’s culture, a common set of values.
(3) “Fortunately for Kuttner, he has one less hoop to jump through for his current construction at the Glass Building. It doesn’t fall under BAR control, since the property is outside the historic district, south of the railroad tracks, tucked between the Water Street Parking Garage and Garrett Square.” – But this is the second-most historic land in Charlottesville! Second only to Court Square and tied with UVA first classes in 1825, but UVA is in the county. How is this not a historic district? That’s right, because City Council and Housing Authority are blocking publication of the full public housing archives. That’s historical fact of current events. The Historical Society has the factual history and courthouse deeds are a good source. The real question is, why would Courtney Stuart suppress the history or not consult Cville Weekly archives? Don’t you want more readers?

g young

A question of initiative, intelligence, and actual facts rather than the infinitely more simple swallowing the byline fed by one “source”. Actual work, in fact.

Last remark from this quarter: Thanks for the time, effort and real time information.

When Lawrence Gaughan announced in April his latest bid for office—he ran for the 5th District congressional seat last year and this year is running for the Albemarle Board of Supervisors—he made his announcement at the Bamboo House way up U.S. 29 practically in Greene County, and noted in a

On July 29, three Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brothers and UVA graduates filed a complaint against Rolling Stone, Wenner Media and journalist Sabrina Erdely in U.S. District Court for the now-discredited and retracted November 2014 story titled “A Rape on Campus,” which described the alleged gang

So here’s the current conventional political wisdom about Virginia: a once-reliable Republican bastion that has, in recent years, drifted toward the Democrats in presidential election years due to a certain charismatic candidate (hint: his name rhymes with Shmarock Mobana), and has therefore

It’s affordable, actually sustainable and certainly not the modern American lifestyle most have become accustomed to, with multiple cars per family, smart phones for everyone and streaming video on demand. The 5-year-old project called Living Energy Farm is an off-the-grid,

Five people were killed in four separate car accidents last week, and four of those deaths occurred within 48 hours. The high number of vehicular deaths in such a short amount of time is unusual, according to Carter Johnson, spokesperson for the Albemarle County Police Department, “We’ve had

A 2011 Dodge Avenger left running in the parking lot at Guadalajara with a baby in the backseat July 26 rolled across Market Street and crashed into a truck in the parking lot beside the Charlottesville Recreation Center. The baby was unharmed, according to Charlottesville Police’s Steve Upman.

On Monday, McGraw Hill Financial announced it had signed a definitive agreement to buy Charlottesville-based SNL Financial for $2.225 billion in cash from privately held New Mountain Capital. Jason Feuchtwanger from McGraw Hill says his company is committed to Charlottesville as a strategic

Five days after the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team won the FIFA World Cup on July 5, a group of young female soccer players from the Charlottesville area had an international victory of their own. The Soccer Organization of Charlottesville-Albemarle Elite U14 Girls won the Italy

The newest proposed route for the 550-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline, announced July 15, would avoid a pending historic district around Wingina in southern Nelson County, but cut through a state wildlife management area along the James River. On July 14, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commision

In 2013, City Council candidates in the Democratic primary spent an average of around $2,500. In this year’s June primary, that average number soared to nearly $19,000. And the surge in spending is causing some concern. “I am worried the cost is going up and will discourage people from

It’s a Friday morning in late June, and Albemarle County Commonwealth’s Attorney Denise Lunsford is sitting on the patio at Java Java Coffee Shop on the Downtown Mall, a few blocks away from the courtroom where, in a hearing a day earlier, Albemarle Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins declined

The controversial development that puts a Fairfield Inn on the corner of Ridge Street and Cherry Avenue, nixed by the Planning Commission 5-0 and rejected by more than 500 petition-signing residents, got a 3-2 go-ahead from City Council July 21. The Southern Development project was in front of

If you’re like us, you spend at least a few minutes every day thinking “What’s good ol’ Jim up to these days?” Jim being, of course, former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore, the visionary leader who won the commonwealth’s highest office by promising to eliminate Virginia’s much-hated car tax.

Local realtor and Ivy resident Andrew Middleditch, 55, was charged with felony involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence July 13, a charge stemming from a May 25 crash in which Lonnie Wycliffe Branham, 78, was killed on Barracks Road. Middleditch previously had been charged

As features editor for Zimbabwe’s largest daily paper, The Herald, in the capital city of Harare, Roselyne Sachiti doesn’t shy away from tough stories, even if they place her in danger. The 33- year-old journalist has gone undercover to investigate the smuggling of clothes into her country, an

Minutes before top Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s helicopter landed on the grounds of the Trump Winery in southern Albemarle County on Tuesday, July 14, a soft breeze rustled the grapevines on the 1,300-acre estate and, in an occurrence that might have seemed eerily

Robert Tracci’s first job out of law school was in Congress as counsel to a House committee. He worked in the Justice Department in Washington in 2006, and was a federal prosecutor in Charlottesville two years later. Despite the glittery resume, some Democrats are asking if the Republican

The darling of 21st-century community design is the “planned unit development,” which typically combines commercial and residential for high-density, pedestrian friendly living. So when the developer of the already controversial William Taylor Plaza PUD told City Council July 6 there was no

Earl Smith’s best-known foray into civic engagement came in 2013 when former Scottsville supervisor Chris Dumler was convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery—and refused to resign from the Board of Supervisors while spending weekends in jail. Smith decided to do something about it. “We have so

For as much legislation passed that demands identification to vote, voter fraud is still a pretty rare crime. That’s why it was eyebrow-raising last month that not one, but two people were arrested in Albemarle County for election fraud for allegedly making false statements, and one of them is